Prepare to Drop
by microzombie
Summary: We all know the story of the Master Chief and his siblings. But when Humanity's best weren't there the defense against the aliens were the soldiers of the UNSC. Miranda is an ODST. A Helljumper. In seven years of war she was beaten and burned but NOT under worked. ODSTs from canon make appearances, including unlisted characters like Melissa McKay (Halo: The Flood) and Buck's squad.
1. Prologue

HEY THERE! So! I'm Microzombie and I've decided to try my hand at a Halo fanfiction. It's my first time so be gentle./strong/p  
If you follow my other stories I apologize. I've been working on them, but this is something I've had stewing for a long time. There's a few more that I'm going to post. I just can't seem to work without these stories, especially this one, coming to you're new...WELCOME. I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone else. I welcome criticism. Flame will result in a very stern glare at my screen since I can't do anything to you. Perhaps one day...ANYWAY!Here's the story.

I DON'T OWN HALO!

0730 Hours

Lance Corporal Miranda Palmer

Outskirts of New Tenochtitlan, Azteca

14 February, 2547

A Wraith's plasma mortar impacted around fifty meters away, outlining several troopers of the 506th ODST battalion against the ground. The cloudless night made it easier to spot the purple orbs arcing through the sky, and it was that much easier to dodge them. I turned my head away and got lower in my shallow foxhole, trying to dig it deeper than puddle depth with the top half of an Elite's helmet.

What?

They made good entrenching tools in a pinch. And the dried blood added character…ok I just realized how that sounded. I'm not psychotic...at all. I'm just...enthusiastic you could say. But then I guess you could also say that nearly every Marine is enthusiastic when it comes to filling Covies full of holes.

"Dig faster Cracker!"

I turned and glared at the other Helljumper in the foxhole.

"You wanna take a turn Juice than be my guest! It's kind of hard to see when my visor is cracked."

And it was. Holy shit, but was my visor cracked. A spiderweb ran across the entire left side.

"So take it off!"

"I'd rather be half-blind than take shrapnel to the back of my head."

"Fair enough."

Damn right it was fair.

I sure as hell didn't ask to get stuck outside a city digging a foxhole with a dead alien's helmet...well actually I did, but I was uneducated when I made the choice. Totally not my fault. I blame teenage hormones. I was angry when I went infantry after all.

Screw it. Doesn't matter, I'm here now, and I can't change that.

So! Instead of continuing the arguement with my battle buddy I went back to digging a deeper hole in the rock hard permafrost that made up Azteca's mountains until the platoon sergeant's voice rang out over the com net.

"Eyes up Helljumpers! Second platoon has xenos in sight! We're gonna remind these fuckers that artillery doesn't scare the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers! Am I right Marines?!"

"Yes, Gunnery Sergeant!" forty voices responded at once.

"Mhm...damn right I am." The NCO sounded pleased when he signed off the net. I put down my makeshift shovel and retrieved my M392 DMR from my back. I aimed it downrange and focused it on a pair of rocks that were a likely spot for a Jackal recce squad to pop up. Juice came and lay next to me with his SRS99-AM.

We lay quiet for several moments.

"I got movement." Juice sent me a NAV marker and I shifted my view to it. Two Jackals bearing Carbines were standing on a cliff.

"El-tee, I've got two Jackals on the right flank. Looks like a recon team. Want me and Juice to take'em?"

There was a pause before my platoon leader responded.

"Go ahead, Cracker, but try and use your DMR. I don't want Juice revealing his position until he has to."

"Roger." A feral grin accompanied the reply and I shifted in the foxhole to a better firing position. Juice scampered to the right to allow me more room.

"I'm taking the one of the right first. If I don't get the one on the left leave him. He isn't worth revealing your position."

Juice's acknowledgement light flashed.

I balanced my rifle on a rock and practiced shifting between the aliens a couple times. I slowly let out my breath as my crosshairs settled on the Jackal's neck. I slowly put pressure on the trigger, and I saw the Jackal's head snap backwards before I heard and felt my rifle's report. I quickly shifted my aim to the left, and fired two rounds into the other Jackal's chest.

As if on cue a hundred Grunts and a quarter that of Brutes leapt from behind rocks and charged our lines.

"Light'em up!" the platoon leader's voice rang out and, in unison, the UNSC lines exploded into noise. A Scorpion tank entrenched on the ridge behind the infantry's lines boomed out a report and the 105mm high explosive round splattered a couple Grunts and sent around a dozen flying.

"Designated Marksman and Snipers! Prioritize officers!"

I shifted my aim off of a Grunt and instead sent three rounds into a Brute's head making him fall over. The ape probably wasn't dead, they were stubborn that way, but he was out of commission. I shifted my aim to a Chieftain and was about to pull the trigger on him when his head exploded and he fell to a white vapor trail.

"Fucking hell Juice! You could have let me have that one!" I snapped as I reloaded. I could hear the smirk in the sniper's voice.

"We're still in competition Cracker. Can't let ya get ahead."

I growled as I rebalanced my rifle on the edge of my foxhole and continuing contributing to the laying waste of the alien banzai charge.

"Alright. DMRs go after Jackals and weapons teams. Snipers keep nailing the officers." Lieutenant Nietzsche's voice came through my radio.

I flashed my acknowledgement light and turned my fire on a Grunt running forward with a Fuel Rod Cannon. His head snapped backwards as my bullet passed through it and he fell forward. Unfortunately for his comrades his hand hit the trigger of the weapon, and the explosion took out two Brutes along with an entire lance of Grunts.

"Those don't count! The Grunt killed them!" Juice shouted as he took the hat off a Brute captain.

"They totally do! He just gets an assist!" I shouted back as I smiled at the banter. Even as I killed two Jackals and another Grunt with a Fuel Rod Cannon the weapons fire began tapering off. Several hundred bodies lay in front of Foxtrot Company and we hadn't even had to call Shortswords for air support. I began to feel very proud of myself.

"Well done Helljumpers. We taught'em what happens when you fuck with the UNS-urk!" The Gunny's voice was cut off by a wet grunt of pain.

"Gunny?!"

"Gunnery Sergeant?!"

" 7 Foxtrot 2-2 do you copy?" the El-tee's voice came through the radio along with those of several other troopers'.

Even as I was about to send a radio call of my own I caught movement behind Juice. My eyes widened and I pulled my M6S and extended my arm towards the blur.

Juice's eyes widened as he seemed to realize something as well, and even as I fired four 12.7mm rounds into the head of the cloaked Elite, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Juice was swinging around his big rifle when I felt something enter my body through my lower back. I was lifted off the ground, and looked down to catch the end of an Elite's Energy Sword being removed from my abdomen.

I fell to the ground on my side.

'Weird...I thought it'd hurt to be stabbed by one of those things...' I idly thought as Juice fired four 14.5mm rounds into a target I couldn't see. He swung his rifle onto his back as the rest of the line exploded into gunfire as my fellow Helljumpers engaged the enemy infiltrators. Juice kneeled next to me and pulled off my battered helmet. I looked up at the night sky as black began encroaching on my vision.

'Funny...I've spent a lot of time up there, but I've never noticed how beautiful it all is before...' were my last thoughts as a Corpsman slid to a stop next to me and unconsciousness overtook me.

* * *

I'm afraid that I'm pretty new at writing combat scenes, so I'd appreciate a quick review. I realize that there wasn't much there to go on...don't expect a badass battle scene worthy of Two Steps From Hell. If you want something like that I highly recommend "The Life" by Casquis. If you haven't read it yet, drop EVERYTHING, and go read it. NOW. I DEMAND IT! Are you still here? Seriously...you're missing out...ok...um...if you're still here I guess you deserve a prize...OH! Here's the next chapter! You can have this!


	2. Journal

I never gave any thought to being a Marine until I signed my name. I thought I'd be like every other human being. Go to high school, get a summer job, before slowly working my way up the ladder of some no name realty or media company on Actium. You know? Start a life.

And then the Covenant attacked.

The Battle of Actium where Colonel Akono Menteith gave his famous speech to the men and women of the 53rd Armored Division.

I was there you know?

When the crazy bastard lit the fuses on 12,000 soldiers that he was supposed to keep safe as best he could. Instead he sent them to their deaths in a suicidal charge that looked good for the cameras, but in all reality was just a waste of soldiers that could have been put to much better use. Hell of a speech though. I was getting pushed onto a refugee evac ship and I felt like I could tear an Elite's throat out.

In fact I was so inspired that when I got to Paris IV about three months later aboard a badly damaged UNSC light frigate I enlisted in the UNSCDF Marine Corps. I'm the smartest person ever of all time clearly. Think I was impulsive? Well I was…so fuck you…

Anyway we dropped out of Slipspace, landed at a military base, and a day later I was on a troop transport headed for Reach.

I don't regret though. I've met a lot of cool people. Killed a lot more aliens. So fuck it. What else was I going to do? Sit on Paris IV and then piss and moan about how little food I was getting…yeah right…

Anyway so thirteen weeks later I walked out of Camp Lima Delta as a newly minted, literally minted the steroids they gave us gave me abs that many men would be jealous of, UNSC Marine Corps private.

And boy was I excited!

I'd found out a week before I graduated that, hey! My parents were alive and on Fumirole! None to pleased that I was now a Marine, but hey! They were well connected they could get me out on some kind of medical discharge.

When I decided to stay in they were pretty miffed that I wanted to be a, and I quote, "knuckledragging infantryman rather than a respectable businesswoman."

So yeah...good ole mommy and daddy excommunicated the oldest sister of the Palmer family. Funny thing is...I didn't even want to be infantry! I was gonna be a pilot!

I was so pissed that I went and told the battalion S-1 that I wanted infantry right after I got off the phone.

I didn't need my mom and dad, right?! I was a Marine and I was gonna fight for Humanity! Psh...right. So there ya go! That's story of how Miranda Palmer went from rich-bitch to getting paid below minimum wage. As it was it wasn't that bad. I mean Marines got pretty good benefits back in the day...providing they lived long enough to get them.

Anyway, yeah, I've decided to write all of my experiences with the Human-Covenant War down. Apparently writing a memoir is all the rage these days, and I personally have nothing to do, so here we go. We're starting with the day I arrived at boot camp, since I started a journal that day. I could start with Actium, but we've all read that before. "Boohoo my planet is a hunk of obsidian, I will now swear vengeance on the aliens and will join the military to exact my revenge." Yeah...like I said...mine was little different.

* * *

Recruit Trainee Miranda Palmer

Camp Lima Delta, Planet Reach.

7 August, 2545

So I decided to start this recording today since no one else wants to talk. I'm Recruit Trainee Miranda Palmer and I'm currently in training to join the Marine Corps component of the United Nations Space Command Defense Force.

So far I've come to three conclusions about basic training. First, and this conclusion was immediate, the drill instructors are not very nice. Second, the beds are a whole lot less comfortable than I'm used to. And third...the food is pretty good. I'm not kidding, the only better food I've had is a time I went to some party that dad's boss held.

Anyway! That brings up why I'm here in the first place. Three months ago, my home, Actium, came under attack by Covenant forces. Needless to say I got away safely otherwise I wouldn't be talking to a blank screen.

My time onboard the ship I evacuated on, the UNSC Metal Slug if I remember correctly, isn't really anything to talk about. To sum it up I spent a lot of time in a dark room with people who had some really bad BO.

I enlisted in the Marine Corps right after I got off the ship, it still boggles my mind how quickly the recruiters jumped at the refugees, and I got turned around and sent here. So here I am at Camp Lima Delta. Pretty bland name right? Wrong. One of the older trainees told me that Lima Delta means Line of Departure in phonetic speak. It's probably be a coincidence, but I think it's a whole lot cooler to pretend it's not.

* * *

Ok so I just got a black foot locker marked Recruit Trainee Miranda Palmer in big bold white letters. I'm opening it now, and it looks like it's my uniforms for the extent of basic training. Hold on, I'm gonna try on the uniforms.

Ok, I'm done. I gotta say, I look pretty good in camouflage. (The digital green really brings out my blue eyes.) I didn't say that! Go away Frankie! You didn't want to talk before, so now I have to talk to a computer! You're lonely?! You turned down a conversation earlier…oh! You weren't lonely then! Well alright then...no you can't pretend to be me and talk to my journal...it's not a diary...no...diaries are for little girls...screw you I'm eighteen! Oh shut up Frankie!

Sorry about that, that was Francis Ashley. She's from Cygnus and we arrived here on the same troop transport.

(Actually I'm from Jericho XII, but we all know how that turned out don't we!)

Shut up, Frankie! Get your own! This was in my locker, you have one to!

Sorry about her, she's a bit bored right now. Anyway, yeah! My uniforms fit, and it actually looks pretty cool. It doesn't say Marine Corps on the tape yet, but it will! Count on it!

Recruit Trainee Miranda Palmer signing off

(Oh that's cute you even have a little ending chime!)

Screw you Frankie!

* * *

Recruit Trainee Miranda Palmer

Camp Lima Delta, Reach

8 August, 2545

So...tired...you know how tired you felt after gym class? Yeah...imagine that except your gym teacher screamed in your face and slapped you with a baton if you didn't run your laps fast enough. My legs are bruising already…

No Frankie I'm not whining I'm simply making my discomfort known to my journal...you barely got slapped with the baton...teacher's pet...don't throw things in the barracks! It's dirty enough without you breaking things! Shut up Frankie I'm talking to my journal now…

Anyway, yeah. Five O'clock this morning the instructors rolled us out of bed, literally rolled, my head is bruised from the concrete, and we had to run out into freezing rain. You're probably thinking aren't Marine Battle Dress Uniforms insulated against the cold and waterproof? The answer is yes. MARINE BDUs are. The instructors kindly informed this recruit that since we had not yet earned the right to call ourselves Marines, neither would we get to wear Marine BDUs. Our clothing is regular cloth.

The instructors then kindly informed us that we would be getting warm in a special way. About this time I got a bad feeling.

Our way of getting warm was making a run around the base's perimeter fence in our heavy coats and boots. Well...the instructors didn't lie, I very quickly forgot that I was cold. Instead I started worrying about being dehydrated. It was kind of comical really. I was completely surrounded by water and I was under threat of being dehydrated.

(You should have seen her! She was all pale and shit!)

Shut up Frankie! Oh...you stuck your tongue out, that's mature. Anyway our entire day was spent exercising. I think the instructors were trying to figure out our limits or something.

(Easier to break someone if you know where they stand.)

Not you to Sasha!

(What? Frankie can comment, but I can't?)

Neither of you can comment!

(How about me? Can I comment?)

No you cannot Jen! This is my journal! You all get your own!

(We're not that lonely…)

Oh really Sasha? Then why are you commenting at this point?

(Because it's funny to watch you get angry…)

I don't get angry…

(Psh...sure you don't…)

Ugh...whatever...this is Recruit Trainee Miranda Palmer signing off.

(It's still cute that you have a way of saying goodbye to a blank screen!)

* * *

**FIN**

**Ok. So do you like the format where it's as if Miranda is writing in a journal or would you rather I go with a different format. I've done first and third person in the past so neither would be a huge problem. During action scenes I'll be going into a first person perspective, so you don't need to worry about that.**

**Leave a review and let me know.**


	3. FUTURE OF MY STORIES

Alright guys. I've got bad news.

I've run into a bit of a snag. I love writing FanFiction, but I don't have enough time in the day for my stories.

So here is what I'm going to do.

I'm going to keep three stories.

Shattered, the Naruto Mitarashi rewrite, and Prepare to Drop. There is also a poll up on my profile. The poll has every other story on it. Pick one That one and the ones listed above will the ones I write. I might bring another back later.

Everything else will go up for adoption.

I will keep the poll up for three days. I will be using that time to type up an update for Shattered, an update for Naruto Mitarashi, and a re-introduction to Prepare to Drop. The three stories I've got listed are getting another author's note detailing the future of them.

I am really sorry to do this guys, but it's gotta be done. Thank you for reading and sorry again.


	4. PREPARE TO DROP NOTICE OF REWRITE

PREPARE TO DROP

I'm going to be rewriting the first few chapters of this. I've got around four chapters typed, but when I read it, it's boring. So here's what's going to happen. When I rewrite it, it's going to be first person instead of the journal thing I've got going on.

I'm currently rewriting them and also getting a jump on the next chapters, so I'll be able to update should something unexpected come up.


End file.
